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Definitions

These definitions are not legally binding and do not claim to have universal validity. They only mean to give a common ground for the online-survey and are used for academic purposes only.

Access: 'The availability of records or archives for consultation as a result both of legal authorisation and the existence of finding aids.'

Access date: 'The date at which archives become available for consultation by the general public, usually determined by the lapse of a specified number of years.'

Accession: 'The recording of the formal acceptance into custody of an acquistion.'

Acquisition: 'The process of adding to the holdings of a records center/archive by transfer, deposit, purchase, gift or bequest.'

Archival legislation: 'The body of laws and regulations governing the preservation, accessibility and protection of archives and the organisation of archives in a country.'

Archives: 'An institution responsible for the acquistion, preservation and communication of Non - current records". Also called an archival agency, archives service, record office.'

Corporate governance: 'The rules and practices that govern the relationship between the managers and shareholders of corporations, as well as stakeholders like employees and creditors. Good corporate governance contributes to growth and financial stability by underpinning market confidence, financial market inegrity and economic efficiency.'

Corporate governance code: 'Is the self-regulation of a corporation. It is a compilation of internal rules within a corporation that may contain, in most cases, the OCDE Corporate Governance Principles of aministrative and financial transparency. This internal regulation is not always compulsory within corporations and varies between companies and countries.'

Electronic archives or machine readable archives: 'Archives usually in code, recorded on a medium such as a magnetic disc, magnetic tape or punched card, whose contents are accessible only by machine and organized in accordance with the principle of provenance as distinct from data archives.'

Financialinstitutions:'An establishment that focuses on dealing with financial transactions, such as investments, loans and deposits. Conventionally, financial institutions include organisations such as banks, trust companies, insurance companies and investment dealers.'

Financial supervisory authority: 'These are governmental institutions, created as part of a constitution or by a specific law, the principal aim of which is to ensure the adequate development of financial activity; e.g. Germany - BaFin; Italy - Bank of Italy; France - AMF.'

Historical archives: 'Archives which do not receive further accessions (record of Acquisitions) or accruals (acquisitions).'

Records: 'Recorded documents regardless of form or medium created, received and maintained by an agency, institution, organization or individual in pursuance of its legal obligations or in the transaction of business.'

Records management: 'The area of general administrative management concerned with achieving economy and efficiency in the creation, maintenance, use and disposal of records during their entire life cycle.'

Recovery and resolution plan: A recovery plan will set out the arrangements which institutions have in place and the measures that would be adopted to take early action to restore its long-term viability in the event of a material deterioration of financial situations of severe stress. A resolution plan will allow an institution to be resolved minimising taxpayer exposure to loss and will set out options for resolving the institution in a range of scenarios, including systemic crisis.

Standard: 'Is a document that provides requirements, specifications, guidelines or characteristics that can be used consistently to ensure that materials, products, processes and services are fit for their purpose.'

ISO International Standards: 'Ensure that products and services are safe, reliable and of good quality. For business, they are strategic tools that reduce costs by minimizing waste and errors and increasing productivity. They help companies to access new markets, level the playing field for developing countries and facilitate free and fair gobal trade.'

ISO 15489 Archives/Records Management: 'There have been more than twenty ISO standards published regarding Records Management. However, ISO 15489 of 2001 is one of the general bases on this subject and was designed to meet the ongoing generic needs for record-keeping in a business environment with use in government and non-government organizations.'